Reader critical of city attorney raise

One last word on the 66 percent for our city attorney. As I stated in an email to (mayor pro tem) Mr. Yokeley, I am all for raises and comparable pay, but to give it all at once is not a good practice or precedent to start.i work for our federal government, and as I also stated to Mr. Yokeley, sometimes I feel like I get overpaid; however, then I look to someone in the private sector doing the same or similar job as I, and them getting paid more than I, and then I don’t seem to think the same way anymore, particularly if they are not working as hard as I know I do.

Furthermore, the work I do entails making sure our tax paying dollars are being spent as they should be, and if they are not, we are required to question such expenditures. The bulk of our reviews, of mostly non-profit organizations that are helping our youth, our vets, and our elderly, involves a very large amount typically for salaries. And, in my 18 years with this office, I have never seen a 66 percent increase on a salary, not even to make up for 10 years without any increase. We use the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Economic Cost Index to evaluate pay increases, and in the past 10-12 years, maybe longer, increases throughout the country and in just about every labor category, there have been no increases in pay that have exceeded about 3-4 percent.

I asked Mr. Yokeley to reconsider the increase, and also suggested that a better way to get the pay back on track would be a gradual increase over several years. I believe this probably fell on deaf ears, so to speak, and we tax payers will now foot the bill for this excess.